Duplicate Bridge OneShot
by fischergirl
Summary: One-shot for the episode Duplicate Bridge. Contains spoilers.


**One-shot for the episode Duplicate Bridge. This story contains ****spoilers****. The author has no legal rights to the show, **_**In Plain Sight**_**, and no copyright infringement is intended. That being said, please enjoy!**

"**Fine. You blow this bridge, I'm going with you." **Mary said, determination in every word. _I'm not going to let you die like this, _she thought fiercely. He deserved so much better than to end it this way.

"**4." **Norman replied firmly, letting her know he was deadly serious. He didn't want anyone else to be hurt on account of him, but this was something he _needed_ to do. His eyes sought out Marshall's, sure that _he_ would be able to convince his partner to leave.

Marshall met his gaze and after a moment, Norman could detect the slightest tinge of sadness in his eyes and knew that he had convinced him of his resolution to do this.

Mary, however, seemed to become even more obstinate about not leaving him though. **"Norman-"**she started, gathering her thoughts for another argument, only to be interrupted by Marshall.

"**Mary, he's not going to stop." **He stated firmly, but softly. He needed to convince her of Norman's conviction to blow both himself and the bridge to smithereens. He had failed his witness, his friend, but he absolutely refused to fail Mary as well. _I'm sorry Mary, _he thought grimly, _but you can't save them when they don't want to be saved._

"**Shut up!" **She returned furiously. _What the hell??_ _Marshall's just giving up?! What the hell is wrong with him?! It's __his__ damned witness! _**"You don't know! How do you know?" **She shouted, her stance becoming more and more defiant.

Marshall looked her in the eye, resolute, and stated sadly, **"Because I know my witness." **The words tasted bitter in his mouth as he said them. This was definitely not the way he had expected the situation to end. The look of betrayal in her eyes at his unspoken request for her to leave Norman to die stung him no less than a slap would have, but she meant too much to him for him to leave her. _Her inability to accept failure is going to get her killed. I refuse to let that happen._

She turned back to Norman just as Norman said, **"3." **warningly, directed at Marshall.

"**Mary-"**Marshall said in a threatening tone of voice and grabbed her upper arm firmly to show her that he wasn't taking "no" for an answer. _You're coming with me, voluntarily or not_, he thought determinedly, _no __way__ do I let you die today!_

She turned to him in surprise as she felt him grab her arm and said, **"****No****." **with as much venom as she could muster and tried to shake off his hand. Her motion had the opposite effect however, as Marshall tightened his grip to being almost painful on her arm. **"Norman," **she said pleadingly, her eyes begging him to reconsider his decision.

Norman took a deep breath. **"2."**

As she struggled anew to free herself from Marshall's iron grip while still maintaining eye contact with Norman, Marshall took the opportunity of her distraction to step back and snake a hand around to her other side and take a firm grasp of the back of her duty belt. _No way is she wriggling out of __that__._ He gave a brief experimental tug and was rewarded as she fell backwards slightly, knocked off balance.

"**No!" **She shouted at him angrily over her shoulder as she regained her footing, but Marshall was beyond caring about her wishes at that point. He took one last glance at Norman and started to bodily haul Mary along sideways with him to the end of the bridge and safety. She grabbed his arm and tried to shove him off of her, but it didn't faze him in the least. She struggled with him the whole way back to the end of the bridge, but he didn't care. She was being unreasonable so it was his job to keep her alive until she'd regained her common sense. That's what partners were for. _That's what friends are for_.

He didn't even break stride as she turned to look back at Norman, yelling **"Nooooo!" **at the top of her lungs. He felt the explosion before he heard it and from Mary's quiet gasp calculated that it must have been just as impressive as it felt. _God, what if there's shrapnel? _Marshall quickly shifted his body so Mary was mostly in front of him and shifted his grip to her collar so he could push her head down as they finally reached the side of a patrol car. He shoved her down behind the car, putting some of his weight behind the motion, but discovered it was unnecessary; the fight had finally left Mary.

After the initial explosion had ended, he allowed Mary to stand with him to see the damage, but kept a precautionary hand on her collar. _Goodbye Norman, _he thought, his eyes filling with tears. A glance at Mary's face also showed tears that refused to fall.

He could hear more sirens approaching. _You're too late. _He watched as the bridge collapsed, metal twisting and groaning until it fell in the water below. A tap on his shoulder turned his attention to a paramedic asking if he and his partner were okay. **"I'm fine,"**he said and turned to evaluate Mary.

Her grief had faded to a look of absolute numbness. _Shock, _Marshall concluded. He turned back to the paramedic and after a soft-spoken conversation was given a blanket, a packet of pills and two water bottles. He wasted no time in disregarding the paramedic's instructions and promptly dumped the pills into one of the water bottles. Mild sedatives given orally and with his partner's express permission was what the man had told him. _As if Mary would ever do anything the easy way, _he scoffed mentally.

After he had shaken the bottle inconspicuously long enough to dissolve the pills into a slight haze, _she's too numb to notice it, _he assured himself, he turned to Mary and handed it to her as he wrapped the blanked around her shoulders. She held the water bottle unthinkingly as she continued to stare at where the bridge used to be. _Well, that won't do, _thought Marshall, frowning. **"Mary, the water will do you more good if you actually drank some as opposed to holding it all night." **He teased lightly. She turned to look at him, but had no other reaction to his words. He prodded her hand closer to her mouth and encouraged her to drink, **"Common, drink the water and we can go home. You're dehydrated." **He lied convincingly.

She took a small sip and made a slight face at the taste. _Shit, _he thought worriedly, _I hadn't counted on it tasting funny. _He tipped the bottom of the bottle up and said, **"Drink it." **For once in her life, she complied, draining the whole bottle in about a minute. Marshall took the empty bottle approvingly and walked her back to their Tahoe. She'd had nothing in her stomach before, so he was sure the medication would take hold quickly. _She's going to be spitting nails at me when it wears off though, _he thought with just a hint of worry at his impending doom. _Oh well, at least she's still alive to kill me._

He buckled her in to the passenger seat and went to give a brief verbal report of what had happened to the police, promising to fax a written statement in a day or two. _I should have noticed something was wrong sooner, _he berated himself mentally as he walked back to his vehicle. _Some Marshall I am. I let my witness blow himself up!_

As he climbed in to the driver's side of the SUV, he chanced a glance at Mary and saw that her head was listing towards the window and her eyes were already starting to droop. He smiled softly in her direction. **"Why don't you catch some shut-eye? I'll wake you when we're back in Albuquerque," **he suggested softly. Her eyes drifted shut as her head gently landed to rest on the window, out for the count. He smiled; he had made the right decision. He put the car in gear and they drove off into the night.

**A/N: Been a while since I've written anything, but after seeing that episode, I felt compelled to write all that went unsaid and added a little extra at the end. Hope you enjoyed reading it!**


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